Folded paper towel and dispenser therefor



May 4, 1948. w WEST 2,440,993

FOLDED PAPER TOWEL AND DISPENSER THEREFOR Filed Sept. 4, 19 .4

3 Sheets-Sheet L INVENTOR WI LFRED H WEST ATTORNEYS May 4 1948.

w. H. WEST 2,440,993

FOLDED PAPER TOWEL AND DISPENSER THEREFOR Filed Sept. 4, 1944 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR WILFRED H. WEST ATTORNEYS @WWM- May 4, 1948. w. H. WEST 2,440,993

FOLDED PAPER TOWEL AND DISPENSER THEREFOR Filed Sept. 4, 1944 s Sheets-Sheet s INVENTOR WILFRED H. WEST ATTORNEYS Patented May 4, 1948 FOLDED PAPER TOWEL AND DISPENSE THEREFOR Wilfred H. West, Roseburg, reg., assignor to Crown Zellerbach Corporation, San Francisco,

Calif., a corporation of Nevada Application September 4, 1944, Serial No. 552,704 9 Claims. (01. 312-37) This invention relates to paper towels and dispensing cabinets for the same, and, more particularly, to folded paper towels and means for delivering such towels one at a time from a container or cabinet.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a folded paper towel with an extended tab so that the protruding end of the tab from the towel cabinet or dispenser will enable the tab to be grasped and thus facilitate the pulling out of the towel.

A common requirement heretofore with separate folded paper towels and the customary dispensing cabinets for them is that the folded rear end of each towel must be "interleaved with the first fold of the next successive towel, so that as each towel is removed the end of the next towel will be brought into protruding position for subsequent removal of the next towel. While such interleaving of the towels in each package can be done by suitable means as the towels are stacked and made into bundles or packages, nevertheless care must be taken when each refill batch of towels is placed in the dispenser to interleave the first towel of the refill batch with the last towel of the old batch. carelessness on the part of the person refilling the container with a new batch of folded towels frequently results in-difiiculty in obtaining a towel from the container and resulting annoyance.

Another object of this invention therefore is to provide folded paper towels which will be so designed, and a dispenser which will be so arranged, that each towel will be delivered separately in turn by the dispenser regardless of the manner in which the towels are stacked in the dispenser, and whereby the necessity of "interleaving the towels and refill batches of towels will beentirely eliminated.

A further object of this invention is to provide a container and dispenser for separate folded paper towels which will permit only one towel to be removed at a time, and in which the delivery operation will be temporarily arrested after each towel is delivered, thus discouraging, if not entirely preventing, use of more than one towel at a time.

An additional object is to provide a dispenser for folded paper towels which will be operated manually by means of a crank similar to the improved dispensing devices which are customary with paper towels dispensed from a supply roll, and to provide such a dispenser which will be practical and simple in construction.

The manner in which I attain these objects and other advantages will be explained briefly with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig.1 is an outside view of my towel dispenser showing a towel delivered into position and ready to be pulled freely from the dispenser;

Fig. 2 is a plan section through the dispenser of Fig. 1, taken on the line 2--2, of Fig. 1 but drawn to a larger scale;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional elevation corresponding to line 3-3 of Fig. 2;v

Fig. 4 is a transverse section on the line. 4-4 of Fig. 2, with parts broken away for the sake of clarity, showing the dispenser control means in one position;

Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are sections similar to Fig. 4 but showing the control means in different positions;

Fig. 8 is a transverse section on line 8-8 of Fig. T 2 illustrating the action of the delivery rollers in the first stage of delivering a towel;

Fig. 9 is a similar section showing the towel delivered into position to be pulled free from the dispenser;

Figs. 10 and 11 show the shape of my improved towel adapted for use in my dispenser.

The dispenser includes an outer housing I 0 (see Fig. l) with a hinged or removable cover H. The housing is adapted to be attached to a Wall or other support as customary with towel dispensers. The bottom of the housing has the usual discharge opening or slot l2 (see Figs. 8 and 9) through which the towel is delivered.

A pair of spaced, transversely extending walls [3 and M (Fig. 2) secured within the housing near each end thereof, provide supports and bearings for the dispensingmechanism. The dispensing mechanism includes a pair of rollers I5 and I6, the roller 15 constituting the drive roller and the roller 16 actin as an auxiliary roller. One end of the shaft of thedrive roller 15 extends through an end wall of the outer housing and a crank I1 is rigidly secured to the shaft. The shaft l8 of the auxiliary roller [6 extends through horizontal slots in the pairs of walls l3 and M to enable the auxiliary roller to be moved laterally away from the drive roller IS. A pair of springs l9, each having one end, attached to the auxiliary roller shaft l8 and the other, end attached to a pin secured to the walls l4 respectively, normally holdthe auxiliary roller IS in frictional contact with the drive roller [5. Cam disks 2!! and 2!, rigidly secured to the shaft of the drive roller l5, engage the shaft l8 of the auxiliary roller andact tomove the auxiliary 3 roller out of contact, with the drive roller for a brief interval during each rotation of the drive roller. Fig. 2 shows the auxiliary roller l6 spaced from the drive roller I 5 as the result of such cam action. roller awai n oin;v therdrive roller, is to .permit a towel to bejp'ull'd freely between the rollers and out of the dispenser, as will be eiiplained more fully later.

The purpose of moving the auxiliary 5 4 rollers of the dispenser is shown in Figs. 10 and 11. The towel 32 is rectangular in general shape but one end is formed with an extended tab 33 and the other end has a corresponding recess 34, thus enabling the towels to be severed from the continuous, webu of papen etoweling stock, without any difficulty or Kw'aste. iliaichtowi T'thefn folded title as shdwn i'nFig. iiitfifisbeeo infng'zsha e in cross section. The size of the tab 33 corre- The cam disk 20 has a V-shaped slot 22 (Figs. l'o 's'ponds approximately to the reduced diameter 4, 5, 6 and 7) in which a ti'iniblr fior moifa' 'b le engaging element 23 is movably carried. The tumbler or element 23 has aiiange at each end,

and thus extending on mzisifili is sii hsi il. disk, which flanges keep it from dropping 'guttof fi5 The arrested temporarily when a towel has been de- 20 tier?bnl em ritlza,( e the g ---'Two horizontal shelves 28 and 29 (see Fig. 2

. and also Figs S and 9) are provided in the diso tirig the stack of paper towels. dges oijthes hielves are cut away, as indicated at 28' a'nd'2q"in Fig. 2', more or less conforming to theshape of"theitab end of the towel so as to permitthe tab end of the bottom towel in the stac'k'to drop down and be engaged by the flange ofioneof therollers, as indicated inFig. 8, v The man r 'i'n whifih'each'towelfis dispensed e iindefstiioifro'ifil 'igsl'g and'il. I assuming the ls ftof'b e"'s fcked n the' shelves'iifand 29' the dis'pensr 'cabiiiet as snow; "in Fig, "8, the tab end of the bottom towel tithes tack, "glue to"the'jractt atiti rst engaged timeshares, will dropdowjn {on the rapesee asthe" rollers are' at'et afuieieesare will beei enemy the 'fiarijge'filfof th'dr'ive rolleifffiifi'ti it'is brought .r A- u de lj n or flan e r sisal, jseciurfed idine Fig. run- '7. Ln Ti 1,, LN), A; r .v

The operation of thear'resting mechanism is as w 5 M... "l, 2" z ...1 When the is; 15 {rotat ticn from the pq ifilon she n. :i 1 3ig tions .shown 1 LIZ flange 25, moves ribihthe outer fork 'to theji'riner When r'otatiorr h ome a-sew re ote the simmers -4. c to 1 4 l selee e s Imam which aybe imb r edt th 'd sklg,,Wh tit e .v i x w. n

slips th r are m fia l6 iesseeive emetistates n,

' qth l QS ,tend .beyond. t t niest the larger diameter iiig ti n'fthefiisrfnerjprevidd y deser pe This iiersatart'preyemsthtbwei new H their way froni 'the'bottom oftfiweisjaigdtneupper end'o f'the ch 'is' beifigjdelive'red "win; continue to 'bithe" shelves;fthuq 6nfshelf29, in the rr'an emfeiitshown mine. 9. fEYen if "the towefwhicli isb'eiiig' delivered re'thelasttowel in the dispenser l'woiild-no "drbp'oiit'of the dispens rs: it'siiwii e'sord, when nwhefposition braifiaiypasa'ttweisja in weightfor thtowel r g tthe"dpper c ease; in "elf-1 dlive dfarid the' 'tiiwel therefore m i i-meson an Fig. 9. Thus "in." rx-- i i oor but does enablet nestlt yellf fiisi the dispenser, a second operation of the dispensing mechanism will not result in delivery of a second towel. In this respect my dispenser differs from other towel dispensers now in common use. I

Should the stack of towels be oppositely placed in the container, thus with the tab end dropping onto the roller IS, the towels will still be delivered in the desired manner, since the flange 3| of auxiliary roller I6 will now engage the tab and bring the tab end of the towel similarly between the friction rollers. Thus all that is necessary in refilling the dispenser is to make sure that the tab end is on the bottom. Obviously no interleaving of the individual towels is required nor any interleaving of a new batch with the old batch.

,I-claim: y

1. In a container and dispenser for folded paper towels, a pair of rollers, means for rotating one of said rollers, a mounting for the other roller permitting said other roller to be moved laterally with respect to said first mentioned roller, spring means normally holding said other roller in frictional engagement with said first mentioned roller, cams associated with said first mentioned rc-ller adapted to move said other roller away from said first mentioned roller temporarily with each rotation of said first mentioned roller, means in said container and dispenser for supporting folded paper towels above said rollers, a suificiently large opening in said supporting means to permit the end of the towel directly above said rollers to drop down on said rollers for engagement thereby, one of said rollers being spool-shaped with a central reduced diameter portion, a flange extending longitudinally along said reduced diameter portion and adapted to engage the end of the towel above said rollers and thereby direct said towel end-between said rollers, whereby said rollers, when rotating in frictional engagement, will operate to draw the towel down between them and, when separated, will then permit such towel to be pulled away manually.

2. In a container and dispenser for folded paper towels, a drive roller and anlauxiliary roller, a crank for rotating said drive roller, a mounting for said auxiliary roller permitting said auxiliary roller to be moved laterally with respect to said drive roller, means normally holding said auxiliary roller in frictional engagement with said drive roller, cam means associated with said drive roller adapted to move said auxiliary roller away from said drive roller temporarily with each rotation of said drive roller, means in said container and dispenser for supporting folded paper towels above said rollers, a sufficiently large opening in said supporting means to permit the end of the towel directly above said rollers to drop down on said rollers for engagement thereby, both of said rollers being spool-shaped with central reduced diameter portions, a flange extending longitudinally along each reduced diameter portion and adapted to engage the end of the towel above said v rollers and thereby direct said towel end between normally holding said other roller in frictional engagement with said first mentioned roller, cam disks associated with said first mentioned roller adapted to move said other roller away from said first'mentioned roller temporarily with each rotation of said first mentioned roller, means in said container and dispenser for supporting folded paper towels above said rollers, a sufi'iciently large opening in said supporting means to permit the end of the towel directly above said rollers to drop down on said rollers for engagement thereby, a V-shaped slot in one of said c-am disks, a movable element in said slot, a stationary stop lug adapted to engage said movable element in one portion of said slot at a certain point during the rotation of said slotted cam disk, said stop lug so positioned as to permit said movable element to pass around said lug when said movable element is in another portion of said slot, said lug and movable element serving to arrest the operation of said first mentioned roller temporarily at the end of each predetermined rotation and to permit further operation when said movable element has moved out of engagement with said lug, whereby said rollers, when rotating in friction-a1 engagement, will operate to draw a towel down between them and, when separated, will then permit such towel to be pulled away ll'ldnu ally, and whereby, when the end of one towel has been drawn down between the rollers and said rollers have been separated to permit the towel to be withdrawn, further operation of the dispenser will be momentarily stopped, thus discouraging any effort tohave more than one towel delivered at a time.

4. In a container and dispenser for folded paper towels, a drive roller and an auxiliary roller, means for rotating said drive roller, a mounting for said auxiliary roller permitting said auxiliary roller to be moved laterally with respect to said drive roller, spring means normally holding said auxiliary roller in frictional engagement with said drive roller, cam disks associated with said drive roller adapted to move said auxiliary roller away from said drive roller temporarily with each rotation of said drive roller, means in said container and dispenser for supporting folded paper towels above said rollers, a suificiently large opening in said supporting means to permit the end of the towel directly above said rollers to drop down on said rollers for engagement thereby, a vshaped slot in one of said cam disks, .a tumbler in said slot, a stationary stop lug adapted to engage said tumblerv in one portion of said slot at a certain point during the rotation of said slotted cam disk, said stop lug so positioned as to permit said tumbler to pass around said lug when said tumbler is in another portion of said slot, said lug and tumbler serving to arrest the operation of said drive roller temporarily at the end of each predetermined rotation and to permit further operation when said tumbler has moved out of engagement with said lug, whereby said rollers, when rotating in frictional engagement, will operate to draw a towel down between them and, when separated, will permit such towelto be pulled away manually, and whereby, when the end of one towel has been drawn down between the rollers and said rollers have been separated topermit the towel to be withdrawn, further operation of the dispenser will be momentarily stopped thus discouraging an effort to have more than one towel delivered at one time.

5. In a container and dispenser for folded paper towels, a pair of rollers, means for rotat- 

